“You mean there are more out there?” The General asks. A shocked look rising on his face.
“With all due respect Sir, did you think they were the only race of beings out here?” T-Rave says.
“Well, this is just a lot to take in at once, first we had to worry about going to war with the other countries, now we have to worry about the whole galaxy?”
“It's good to be prepared, but you don’t need to worry about the whole galaxy, they said they got banished, so they must have done something illegal for the other beings to force that on them.”
“Can't we just negotiate and give them what we want?” The General asks.
“I already tried that on them, they said that they wouldn’t negotiate because they wanted to exterminate us.”
“That’s what they said?”
“Pretty much,” I say.
“Did they provide any other information?”
“They said that Thopium originated from gas nebulas. I’m assuming by that that this planet must have formed from a gas giant millions of years ago. I don’t know the science behind it but if we have Thopium deposits in the ground then it’s the only logical explanation that I can think of.”
“Is that all?” He asks, almost disappointed.
“That was all the information that is worth mentioning. I have nothing further to report.”
“Hmm, what about you Captain?”
“Well, the only thing I can add to this is that they are extremely dangerous, Sargent Terein died by a slice right through his abdomen. I’m not sure how they usually fight, we caught them by surprise this time, who knows how they are going to be armed next time. They were forced to use their bare hands, which had claws on them. Other than that I don’t really know what to add to this report, except that we need to hit them and hit them hard.”
“Alright gentlemen, I will take action on what you have said, we will scan the planet with our satellites. If these Hakorians have mining operations going on right now on this planet we will know about it. T.A.R. will contact you when we need you, if the scans reveal anything then you will depart immediately. You are dismissed gentlemen,” he stands up, waving his hand for us to get out.
“Yes Sir,” T-Rave and I say as we salute before we walk out the door.
“Where were you?” I ask him, he had been five minutes late for the debriefing.
“Oh, I was having a shower and lost track of the time.”
It was a rather lame excuse.
“Don’t let it happen again.”
“Yes Sir.”
We walk towards the entrance of the compound, “Bob,” I say, nodding at the guard behind the desk.
“Ok, well I’m heading home, we’ll probably be back here tomorrow. Have a good evening Captain,” I say, walking down the steps towards my speeder.
“Seeya tomorrow Colonel,” he says, waving his arm and departing in the opposite direction.
My speeder is still parked in the same spot -obviously- so it took little effort to find it amongst all the other speeders, plus the dazzling red color really stands out from all the other dull colors.
I scan my thumb print onto the pad on the side of the door, the door pops open with a click as the locking mechanism releases.
I scan my thumb print again as well as my retina.
“Welcome Mr. Woods, where can I take you?”
“Home,” I say.
“Right away Mr. Woods.”
The speeder takes off, gliding off into the many skylanes. I look back towards the area where the towers had collapsed. Demolition teams have already made the area restricted as they sift through the rubble, trying to find pieces worth salvaging for recycling the materials. My team sure made a mess of things, at least we tried our best to save the building, so it wasn’t really our fault for what the end result had come to.
“Opening Garage bay door three, have a nice day Mr. Woods,” the Computer says.
“Yeah, you to,” I say, even though I know it won’t mean anything to it.
The speeder pulls into the garage bay, it feels like days have passed since I’d been home. I never wanted to leave, especially on the day after our wedding. But orders were orders. If I hadn’t shown up for that briefing I’d have been court martialed…probably.
I open the door and get out, “ah, home sweet home.”
I walk towards the door connecting the garage to the main household area; I wrapped my hand around the simple doorknob, except it flung open before I had the chance to turn my wrist.
Before I know it Syreena is in my arms, it was the best feeling in the world. Having your loved one wrapped up against you, squeezing so tight as if she wanted to never leave my sight again, which she probably didn’t.
“I’m so glad you’re safe,” she says; pressing her soft lips against mine.
“I promised I would be,” I say, returning the gesture.
“What’s going on out there? I haven’t been able to contact anyone for information,” she asked.
“Everything is a mess. Why don’t we go sit down?” I say.
“Sure, I can make you some coffee,” she says.
“I would love some.”
I walk towards the living room, taking a seat on one of the leather couches. It’s always nice to relax like this after a hard day’s work. It's nice to be able to sit back on a couch and just close your eyes. Almost too relaxing, my breathing slows down, everything seems so peaceful.
Explosions shake my surroundings, I can’t move my leg, I’m going to die here, without even being able to say goodbye to my wife.
“Mav?” Syreena says, her hand is on my shoulder, she must have shaken me awake.
“You fell asleep; you must be really exhausted to have fallen asleep that fast.”
“How long was I out for?” I ask.
“Long enough for your coffee to be ready,” she says, a steaming hot cup of coffee is in her hands.
“Thanks,” I say, taking the cup from her.
“So, you said earlier that everything is a mess? What exactly is a mess? The news channels have been down due to power problems.”
“We've been discovered,” I say simply; taking a sip from the cup, it’s delicious, although every time without fail the first little sip always burns your tongue.
“What do you mean? By who?”
“Other sentient beings. A race once known as the Akkessians -they took on the name of Hakorian when they were banished- they were banished for their beliefs apparently. I’m assuming that their beliefs were not in the best interest of all the races. Which is why they were banished, we can’t be sure till we get more information.”
“Where did you get this information from in the first place?” She asks, although she probably already knows the answer.
“We extracted it from one of the Hakorians.”
“I don’t want to know any of those details. But I need to know if you and I are in danger.”
“Well, I will most likely be in danger, but I will make sure that you won’t be. Our satellites have picked up a fleet heading this way, they won’t be here for a while though, and it will give us plenty of time to mount a defence against them.”
“All you military people think about is a violent way to resolve things; did you try to negotiate with them?”
“Of course I tried, you know me honey, I never want to fight, I want to make peace. However, in order to have peace sometimes you need to get your hands dirty. They refused to negotiate; all they want to do is exterminate us from this planet so they can have the Thopium deposits in the ground. They need it to get back to where they came from.”
“So, what is the military planning to do?”
“Well, we did manage to get some Intel about the mining operations going on around the planet, when our satellites find the locations of these operations we will be there.”
“We? Meaning the military, or you?”
“Well, I was one of the people that came out of that building alive with experien
ce fighting against these things. Now, it was only one small skirmish but the military will think that little fight got us experience that others won’t have.”
“Does that mean you are going to be leaving again soon?”
“Probably within the next couple days, it shouldn’t take long for us to find where we need to go.”
“But why do you have to go? We are supposed to be on our honeymoon right now, not me sitting here worrying myself and you are going god knows where and doing god knows what.” She says irritably.
“Honey, I wish I could stay here, I really do, but like I said before, me and the Captain are the only ones with any real experience fighting these aliens.”
“Well, I hope you take lots of other men with you on this, so other people can get the experience so that you can take your well-deserved time off.”
“Hmm, I’ll throw that out there and see what they think. Not sure they would let me just walk out on them when we are at the beginning of a war,” I say, a grin spreads across my face.
“What's so funny?” She asks.
“Oh, I was just thinking of what we would be doing on our honeymoon right about now.”
“Hmm, and what would that be,” she says, her hands tracing through my hair.
“I think you know.” My hand slides gracefully on her neck, my hands always have the slightest touch. I watch as Goosebumps appear on her arms, she sighs softly as my hands glide down her back, nothing could ruin the moment -my intercom beeps at me from inside my pocket- “Shit.”
“Don’t pick it up,” she says softly, her lips find their way to my neck.
“You know I don’t want to, it might be Headquarters” - I check the display number- “yeah, it’s the Base. I need to answer this; otherwise I’m in big trouble,” I say regrettably.
“Fine,” she says as she gets up and walks into the kitchen.
“Colonel Woods here,” I say.
“Yes, Colonel, you have been ordered to report for duty at oh-seven-hundred tomorrow,” a man over the Intercom says.
“Yes Sir, has there been a development?” I ask.
“Why yes there has Colonel, our satellites have discovered a base of operations in the Kelownial Rain Forest, just on the outskirts of Jalin City. More information will be revealed tomorrow morning at the briefing.”
“Alright, thank you, Colonel Woods out,” I say, switching off the Intercom. I sigh; at least I now know when I have to leave home, again.
“Syreena,” I call to the kitchen, I stand up from the couch and walk towards the kitchen, “Honey, I just got my orders.”
She looks at me, her eyes are starting to tearing up.
“Don’t cry, I will be fine, I promise,” I say, wrapping my arms around her.
“I don’t know that, even you can't possibly know that.”
“Hey, you know me; I will do everything I can to be back here.”
“I just don’t like it when you leave me like this,” she says.
“We’ve known each other for five years, and I’ve gone away during that time, and I’ve always come back to you. What would you have me do?”
“Leave, you can leave the army, and we can live a normal life.”
“You know it’s not as simple as that.”
“It can be, just tell them that you want out.”
“Alright, I will think about it, if it’s what you want, but know this, as long as there is one alien on this planet or near it I will never leave. I can't just back out on humanity.” I say.
To make a man choose between his life career and his wife was a tough one, ultimately it came down to love, love for your work, or love for your wife. Good thing I’m a smart man, I know which is the better option.
“I will hold you to that. Now, where were we?”
“I think I remember, oh yes, we were on our way to the bedroom.”
Five
Day 8: Cycle 1: Period 2: Year 2397
An alarm is blaring in my ear, I set it for 0600, it couldn’t possibly be that time already though, it felt like it had been only minutes ago that I had closed my eyes.
I drag myself out of bed, wishing that this is just a bad dream.
A hand grasps my wrist, not too tight, but tight enough that it meant for me to stay, I take a glance over my shoulder, Syreena is on the other end of my arm, barely awake.
“How am I supposed to get dressed with one arm?”
“You don’t, that’s the point. Why don’t you come back to bed?” She yawns out.
“Because I need to get to a meeting, that’s why.”
“Well, you have an hour, it takes what, ten minutes to get ready and out of the house?”
“You’re stubborn, did you know that?” I say, kissing her on the forehead.
“Wow, you have lovely morning breath, don’t you agree?”
I smile at her, it was one of those moments where I wish I could stay in forever, she returns the smile with one of her infectious ones. It was the perfect moment to be in, if only it could last forever though.
“I’m really sorry, but I need to have breakfast, a shower, get dressed, all of those things.” That was it, that is how long the moment lasted; her smile disappears, replaced with a sad face. In my wedding vows I had promised to make her happy, whatever I had to do, and by the looks of it I wasn’t doing a good job.
“I will be back before you know it. Don’t worry, I won’t just leave right away, when I’m all ready to go I will come back in here for as long as I can.”
I get up to start my morning, I wish I hadn’t seen that single tear go down her cheek though, it just made me feel worse about leaving.
It took me only twenty minutes to get ready; in that time I had a shower, made a gummy bowl of porridge, made a cup of coffee and got dressed.
When I was done those tasks I had plenty of time to spare. I go back into the bedroom and lie on the bed. It took only seconds for Syreena to throw her arms around me and snuggle closely into my side.
I lay there for what felt like hours -in a good way though- and just listened to the inhaling and exhaling of Syreenas lungs, a marvelous sound, the sound of life.
I look over at the clock, I’ve been lying here for fifteen minutes already, time sure passes fast when you’re relaxing.
“I gotta go now sweetie, I love you, and I will be back as soon as I can,” I say, giving her a kiss goodbye.
“I love you to.”
I get up to leave; it was déjà vu, just the previous day I had done the exact same thing, although the distance that I would have to travel had grown exponentially.
I walk through the dark hallways, it’s only 0640, and the sun hasn’t yet peeked through the massive skytowers, casting most of the city in a prolonged darkness.
I go through the garage door, walking up to my speeder; I scan my thumb print on the pad near the door, it pops open. I jump inside and scan my thumb and eye.
“Welcome Mr. Woods, where can I take you?”
“T.A.R. Headquarters please,” I say.
“Right away.” Please sit back and enjoy the ride, at this time of day traffic should be minimal, we should arrive in a little over two minutes.”
The garage bay door open and the speeder soars into the sky, zooming into the designated skylane that would take me where I need to go.
The speeder glides through the same skylanes as yesterday morning, taking me along the path most efficient. I look out my window, noticing the two towers that had been destroyed yesterday. The demolition crews were still moving debris around and loading it onto huge container trucks. They must have worked all night, because a large portion of the first building is already missing, probably sent to one of the large recycling plants on the outskirts of the city.
“We have arrived at our destination Mr. Woods, have a nice day.”
“Thanks, you piece of junk,” I say, even though it functioned well, technology was always going to get outdated, and fast.
“You’re welcome,” it says, obliviou
s to my last comment.
I roll my eyes as I jump out of the speeder, technology would one day be the bane of our existence, and yet people keep making it smarter and smarter.
I walk up the steps, going through the glass doors.
“Bob,” I say, walking past the security guard, he nods at me; I must be one of the few people that actually acknowledges him.
The doors magnetic seal shuts off, allowing me access to the rest of the building.
I walk towards the same conference room as yesterday, the General would be surprised that I’m this early, but I have a few things I need to talk to him about beforehand.
I scan my thumb into the security pad on the door; I walk through the door, not surprised that no one is here yet, even though I’m fifteen minutes early there’s usually someone sitting here waiting.
I sit down near the door.
The minutes pass by as if time is irrelevant, it feels very lonely in the small room. The only thing I could do is watch as the sun crowns over the buildings, it might’ve been lonely, but definitely peaceful.
The door hisses open and General Anders walks in.
“Ah, Colonel. I didn’t expect you to be here this early. He says, taking the seat at the front of the table.
“No Sir, I didn’t really want to be here this early, but I need to talk to you.”
“What is in regards to?” He asks.
“It’s about my wife, well, probably a lot of wives feel like this. She doesn’t exactly like me being in the army, getting sent off for sometimes cycles at a time. She wants me to either get reassigned or discharged.”
“Well, I’m sure that we can’t let you do that at this time Colonel, we need you in the field, I’m sorry son, but I will not authorize your leave.”
“I understand Sir, I will give my life protecting humanity, but I’m just letting you know, if I survive this war I’m out. I’m also entitled to a personal leave, but don’t worry Sir, I have no plans to abandon you in a time like this.” I say.
“Thank you son, thss planet is in serious trouble if we don’t have people like you defending it.”
“Can't we get more people to help defend it?” I ask.
“Of course, the military’s plan is not to fight a war with only two soldiers, we have entire platoons prepping for missions. Don’t think you and Captain Ravenson are the only people that are useful; I have command of thousands of soldiers, all of which are going to be departing within the next hour to certain locations on this planet.”
Siege of Terra (The Mavrik Woods Series, Book 1) Page 7